


And together, they are strong.

by heracotta



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Actors, M/M, a LOT of dialogues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:07:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24378475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heracotta/pseuds/heracotta
Summary: ― Kuroo Tetsurou, actor, announced his relationship with voice actor and model, Tsukishima Kei.Tsukishima feels things are starting to go wrong.
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 22
Kudos: 139





	And together, they are strong.

> ‘Seriously, what did he see in him?’
> 
> ‘I wasn’t expecting them to be together, this is sad’
> 
> ‘Tsukishima? _That_ Tsukishima? Consider me baffled!’
> 
> ‘They look so good together, honestly! I’m rooting for them!’
> 
> ‘I wish them all the happiness they can get. Maybe Kuroo can put a smile on Tsukishima at last?’
> 
> ‘Ok ok ok, let’s do a poll. Who’s topping?’
> 
> 'What did he feed Kuroo to make him believe he's any good lmao'
> 
> 'Look blondie boy is trying to ride Kuroo's fame now'
> 
> ‘Kuroo has made a really disappointing choice. Out of all people!”

  
  


“You’re still reading that thing?”

Tsukishima freezes at his spot, the startled movement barely noticeable but to people like Akaashi Keiji, he can read Tsukishima like an open book. Half turned, he sees Akaashi standing leaning against the doorframe to his room. _He should close the door earlier_.

Akaashi stares at him waiting for his reply. He can offer nothing. What he’s supposed to say? _Yes? Yes I’m reading the comment? Yes I unconsciously look for bad comments_? He will be schooled right there and then. He knew it’s bad, he knew he shouldn’t and he’s aware of his status and his appearance. But when the news of him and Kuroo got together came out, he became hyper aware of more than just that.

When he responds to Akaashi’s question with silence, looking pathetic while wishing that the ground would swallow him whole now, he hears Akaashi make his steps forward and into the room. His housemate stops right behind the chair he sits on, briefly scanning his laptop screen. Browser open, showing netizen’s comments on the news.

**_Kuroo Tetsurou, actor, announced his relationship with voice actor and model, Tsukishima Kei._ **

“People will always have something to say, Tsukishima. Good, and bad. A lot of it,” Akaashi offers, tentatively placing his hand on his shoulder. The younger actor nods a little, stares at the floor for a while before he brings back his attention to the laptop. Akaashi continues “You’ve never bothered about comments before. You hardly cared when people talked so many bad things about you. What happened? What’s different now?”

Tsukishima wrings his hands, attention back to the floor. “It’s easier when it was just me,” he closed his eyes “but this time, Kuroo-san is in the picture too,”

Akaashi squeezes his shoulder lightly and moves to squat in front of Tsukishima, making the latter look at him.

“Tsukishima, Kuroo-san won’t simply announce his relationship with you without considering all these things. He knows you. You know he knows you. I’m sure he has considered everything before he went public about this,” 

Akaashi takes Tsukishima’s hands in his, squeezing them. “If you were uncomfortable about it, why did you agree?”

Tsukishima takes a while before offering his answers, eyes still closed. He inhaled sharply. “He said he wanted to show me off to the open. He didn’t want to feel like he had to hide me,” he returns the squeeze. “I lost my fight at that. I don’t want to make him feel like I want him to be a secret. He is… he is a lot of things. A lot of good things. You don’t hide good things from the world. And I… I don’t want him to doubt my feelings for him. Or doubt that I want this too. Or that I want him,”

“But?”

From looking at his own hands, his eyes flicker up to Akaashi’s very own. He takes in the beauty of it and the many questions behind it.

“I’ve exposed him to my world,”

“Your world?”

“Akaashi-san, you knew how my reputation is like,”  
  
“Mmhm, a successful voice actor plus runway model, made into big scenes in such a short time, unorthodox style and mannerism, unexpectedly adorable among fellow actor friends - already confirmed by a lot. I remember that time, they were all so shocked hearing how polite and soft-spoken you are. How many of them have ‘adopted’ you as a baby brother already?”

“I don’t mean those,”

“You meant the reputation with the public and netizens who know very little about you?”

“It’s still a lot of impact, Akaashi-san. I’m serious. Kuroo-san doesn’t deserve bad comments. He’s the industry’s sweetheart and he deserved every good thing in it. By openly associating himself with me, he opened a gate that shouldn’t be opened. Now people are going to talk bad things about him. People are going to doubt him, worse if they start questioning his skills. People are capable of that. I don’t want him to experience all that. It was fine when it was just me. It wasn’t fine anymore that Kuroo-san is going to have a taste of the downside in my career too,”

Akaashi doesn’t reply for a while. He searches Tsukshima’s eyes, trying to read something in it. Realizing that Tsukishima is truly troubled by the issue, he moves from his squatting position to reach up and hugs him tightly. Tsukishima isn’t expecting that but he carefully returns the hug.

“Talk to Kuroo-san, hmm?” Akaashi feels the hug tighten, so he rubs Tsukishima’s back gently. “If it has been troubling you this bad, you should talk about it early. Don’t want them all to affect your work, right?,”  
  
“Mm,” is the only reply Tsukishima offers him, before he releases Tsukishima from the hug and gives a little pat on the shoulder. Akaashi then closes the browser and brings down the lid, proceeds to pull Tsukishima out of the room to join him for some games in their shared living room.

* * *

  
  


The relationship announcement didn’t change much of the way Kuroo and Tsukishima act in public, except Kuroo now doesn’t feel like he needs to be extra careful for staying very close to Tsukishima. Not that he was that extra careful before. He assumed his boyfriend would hate him if he showed PDA openly but now almost everyone knows Tsukishima is his, he is Tsukishima’s and he is so damn proud of that.

When he asked Tsukishima if he’s okay with going public and explained just how much he wanted to let people know that he’s happy and his boyfriend is making him happy - Tsukishima asked a few questions. Everything revolves around how ready and how prepared he was for the reveal. He gave Kuroo a couple of scenarios where it sounded like he’s the bad guy and how Kuroo will react to that. Kuroo is not stupid. He definitely can read between the lines. He is not saying that his beloved boyfriend thinks he’s stupid either. They both know how smart they are. The issue is, Tsukishima thinks low of himself, despite the big success he continued to achieve, despite his smug appearance. His cold demeanor brought some backlash his way and he knew about it. He chose to ignore and take it easy because to him, the less he cares the less he will get hurt. And now, that guy was just afraid.

Apparently he still is, according to Akaashi - his boyfriend’s housemate and a long time friend from their high school days.

Kuroo is now at home, relaxing and Tsukishima is staying over for a couple of nights. He is on his laptop with the background sound of Tsukishima in the shower. He is quiet in the shower, aside from the sounds of the water - unlike Bokuto who would hum unrecognizable songs continuously or Akaashi who seems to constantly have something dropped on the floor. The steady soft sound makes him feel even more relaxed and content. He is ready to talk about an important thing with his boyfriend.

Displayed on his laptop is the website Akaashi mentioned prior. The one that he caught Tsukishima reading. 

_“There could probably be more,” he told Kuroo a few days ago. “But this seems to have bigger ratio of bad and hate comments,”_

_“Leave it to Tsukki to look for the worst,” he responded to Akaashi on the phone._

_“That boy probably purposely specifically seek that one out,”_

_Kuroo hummed an agreement before replying, “Thank you for telling me, Akaashi,”_  
  
_“Not a problem, Kuroo-san. Actually I don’t even know if I should. But the way he is actively looking for it is unhealthy. He really loves you, you know,”_

_“I know,” he nodded, even when he knew his friend couldn’t see it. “Oh I know,”_

And Akaashi was right. The comments on the website are vicious. There are also many good and supportive comments but they are easily swallowed by the negative ones. Even among the negative ones are not limited to questioning their compatibility and Tsukishima’s “antagonistic nature”, there are POLLS discussing who is top and who is bottom like it’s some designated position of power.

Kuroo is no stranger to hate comments and slander. He is aware that the audience will arrive with a mix of those who like him, those who like his work, those who are okay with him in general and those who don’t think there’s any good points about him. He chuckles at the thought that Tsukishima probably forgets that he is three years senior to him in the industry and he was faced with this earlier. Even though the pattern of their experiences with bad takes and hate comments are different, it’s all the same when it is about dealing with people who don’t like you.

The different thing with Tsukishima was he entered the industry like a cold freezing whirlwind. It sets you freezing but also chaos at the same time. With his natural blonde hair and beautiful honey-colored eyes, the height and legs for days, his beautiful voice acting and his stature looking regal every time he models - designers and voice agencies can’t get enough of him. The ugly part of all that was that he was dubbed as a spotlight thief for ‘stealing’ job opportunities from others. The talks about his cold attitude surfaced when he appeared in TV interviews saying too little for their liking. It’s easy to believe them if they haven’t met Tsukishima personally.

“What are you doing?” 

Kuroo could get a whiplash from how quick he turns at the question. Tsukishima stands behind him, all ready up for bed and looking comfortable. His hair is a little messy from dry rubbing with the towel. ‘Cute’ comes first in Kuroo’s mind, ‘Crap’ follows not too long after, knowing that his laptop is open and displaying the very same website Tsukishima has been dreading about in his personal time.

Kuroo doesn’t get to answer when Tsukishima quickly moves from behind the sofa, scrambling to reach his laptop placed on the coffee table and aiming for the mouse, mild panicking and frantic “You shouldn’t read this. This- this is a bad website. How- how did you find this?”

Kuroo watches his boyfriend struggle a little even for just clicking the [X] of the browser’s window. His hand is on the lid of the laptop when Kuroo reaches for his free hand and tugs it towards him so his boyfriend could turn from his kneeling position on the floor. He could feel Tsukishima tries to pull back a little and tend the laptop “Kei, hey, baby,”

At the nickname, Tsukishima turns towards Kuroo and meets his eyes. Kuroo could see the fear in his wide eyes. Kuroo moves his hands to cup Tsukishima's face and brings himself closer to him. “It’s alright, Kei. It doesn’t bother me,”

“It should. You don’t deserve those. It’s- it’s bad. People should love you, people should always love you. You’re peaceful before. And- and then I came into the picture and I’m destroying that peace. I came into the picture-” Tsukishima stops when Kuroo pinches his cheek hard.

“Kei, this isn’t the first time people make bad and hurting comments about me and it won’t be the last. As long as we’re in the eye of the public, or even in the small crowd - people will talk. You can do anything and you can do nothing, they will still talk. ” Kuroo rubs the offended cheek gently with his thumb, soothing it. “What makes you think I’m excluded from all that hmm?”

Tsukishima’s wide, beautiful eyes look innocent and fragile when he watches them up close. Kuroo could see the subtle movements of Tsukishima trying to take in the sight in front of him and searched for his eyes. “You are the good people,”

“Aren’t you too?”

“People don’t make bad comments about good people,”

“People who don’t really know you as a person?”

Tsukishima looks somewhere off his face and Kuroo could hear his boyfriend mumbles a little. “Akaashi-san said something like that too,”

“What was that?”

Tsukishima inhales sharply. “It doesn’t matter if they know me or not, their acceptance and rejection still matters when it comes to our field of work. I don’t want it to get worse to the point they will judge your work too.” Tsukishima reaches up to grip Kuroo’s wrist in his hands. “It’s different with me because I still have to work on it, but you’ve already in the very comfortable position and people trust you,”

“Kei,”

“I don’t want to be the one who take it all away,”

“Kei!” Tsukishima startles at the volume of Kuroo’s voice, snaps up to match Kuroo’s eyes. His eyes widened even more, eyebrows scrunched a little and Kuroo could see the mix of fear, confusion, sadness, shock and anger in that pool of gold.

“You take nothing away.” Kuroo cups his face tighter. He thinks of squishing it just to see Tsukishima’s cheeks puff up because it’s cute, but considers that this is a serious moment and Tsukishima probably won’t appreciate it if he appears to take it lightly, which he isn’t. “If anything, you gave a lot of things. How many years we’re in a relationship now?”

“Is this a test if I can remember the date,”

“Baby,”

“Six years, eight months and thirteen days,” Ok whoops. Even Kuroo doesn’t count down to that much detail. He coughs and straightens himself up a little.

“All of my successes happened within those six years, right?” Tsukishima takes a little while before nodding slowly. “Who do you think gives me all the strength to move forward, and keep trying if the things get hard? Kei, I told you - this isn’t the first time I’ve seen people talking whatever they want about me. It has been a thing since I’m starting this career. It’s a thing for us with this career,”

Tsukishima pouts a little as he’s trying to retort to that, but the words are failing him.

Kuroo continues on. “I want to show them who has been my source of strength all these while. Who has been keeping me smiling and safe knowing that I have a home to return to. It’s a battlefield out there, but once I’m done I always want to come home. You’re that home. I want them to know how much you’ve given me, and at the same time proves them wrong when they said you were incapable of loving and being loved,”

“You remembered that,”. It was in the news once and it stretched for a duration. Someone made a comment of Tsukishima’s personal character after he did a voice acting job for a series where he was voicing a cold, stoic antagonist who was suffering from neglect but used the anger and hate towards his fate to turn against the world with extreme ambitions but gets defeated in the end after losing so many things in life. He was being compared to that fictional character, in the way they are incapable of loving and being loved, especially when both of them are sporting a cold demeanor and seemingly unaffected by anything.

“I was so mad,” Kuroo kisses his forehead. “Incapable of being loved? Then what am I doing? I’m crazy for you, I love you so much sometimes my heart couldn’t take it and I feel like squeezing you so hard just to express this overwhelming love energy,”

“Love energy,” Tsukishima can’t help but snort at that.

“Shush you,” Kuroo kisses his nose. “And incapable of loving?”

Kuroo’s eyes turn soft, roaming around Tsukishima’s face, trying to take in every curve and shapes and colors. He smiles so wide it’s contagious, that even with a busy mind Tsukishima can’t help to smile along. Kuroo’s gaze drops to his lips, glances back up to Tsukishima’s eyes as a signal before he flutters his eyes close and dips in to kiss him full on the lips. He presses his kiss harder when he feels Tsukishima responds almost immediately to it. Tsukishima still has his eyes closed when Kuroo pulls away a little, keeping the distance close. He opens his eyes to see the sight of his boyfriend up close, smiling impossibly wider.

“I’ve never felt so loved like this,” Kuroo whispers. He brings up his right thumb to swipe gently over Tsukishima’s lips. “It travels in your kisses,” He uses his left thumb to touch gently under Tsukishima eyes. “It shines in your gaze,”.

Tsukishima doesn’t realize how he already has one of his hands gripping tightly at Kuroo’s side and the other firmly holds his wrist, when Kuroo moves his hand to pry open the grip on his waist to interlace their fingers together. Tsukishima hands instantly grip their woven hands together. “It comes with your touches,” With a free hand Kuroo touches one side of Tsukishima’s temple. “And the fact that you are thinking about me, so much and so intense that you’re losing sleep and a little bit of that rational, that we had to come to this discussion - says everything about your love. You love subtly but also passionately. It’s not something that flashes out there like neon lights but believe me this, I feel it with my every being. And if that is not enough, our colleagues know how adorable you are and how much you care. Those are the people who knew you.”

“I want people to know this too. I can deal with some bad comments. We’ve made this far with our own effort, not some shady strings pull. They know that. They’re just shocked. They don’t want to believe yet. I’ll make them believe. We’ll make them believe. If our friends can see us, they can see us too. Our friends were just exposed to this earlier, and they definitely knew you. The public will know you too and they will appreciate you the way we do,”

Tsukishima doesn’t have any words to respond to that, so he just squeezes his hand tight and leans forward to bury his face in the crook of Kuroo’s neck.

“Besides, you’re just being unfair to yourself, you know that? This website you’re looking at is the shadiest, the most controversial and filled with people who are not happy with almost everything. They even complained about a guard standing innocently but happened to be in the same frame of some idols! And that’s one website! If you look at the rest, people have been very supportive. They even called us good-looking couples, talking about our babies and everything. They probably would write fanfic about us!” Kuroo feels and hears the snort at that. “But you just have to hunt that one,” Kuroo pinches Tsukishima’s cheek again to stress his point. It’s tricky because Tsukishima has buried most of his face but Kuroo managed to grab that puffy cheek anyway.

“I fofv vyu,”

“What was that?” Kuroo hugs Tsukishima’s waist tight with both of his arms and squeezes the answer out of him.

Tsukishima lifts his head to let Kuroo hears him clearly “I love you,”

“You love me,” Kuroo’s tone is teasing, he knows it. Not helping at all with the grin plastered on his face.

Tsukishima sighs softly and lays the side of his head on Kuroo’s shoulder, talking to his neck. “I love you, I love you so much I just want the very best for you. I just feel like I need to protect you from all the nonsense but you are apparently an M.”

Kuroo laughs and moves to kiss his forehead. 

“Tsukishima Kei, we’re in this together,” Kuroo says. Tsukishima pulls away and takes a look at his face. He always does that. When Kuroo says something sappy and loving, Tsukishima will take his time taking in the words by observing Kuroo’s face. It’s not that he doesn’t trust Kuroo but at this point it has already become a habit. Plus, Kuroo IS handsome so why not stare at his boyfriend a little? HIS boyfriend.

Even after six years, eight months and thirteen days, every time his brain supplies him that Kuroo is HIS boyfriend still makes him giddy and heart beating a little faster. It makes him smile so wide, the kind that he offers to Kuroo and only Kuroo Tetsurou.

“Thank you for being that voice,” Tsukishima says, sincere. “I really love you, darling Kuroo Tetsurou,”

Nicknames are rare coming from Tsukishima. It’s mostly Kuroo’s thing. He took a while before moving from Kuroo-san to Kuroo, and Kuroo to Tetsurou. Only recently he shortened that to Tetsu, but ‘darling’? Kuroo’s grin drops, and Tsukishima is worried for a second before he is pulled into an even tighter hug, with Kuroo spilling all the embarrassing nicknames and I love you-s.

* * *

Kuroo was right. There’s nothing much to worry about, actually. That website is indeed shady, but knowing Tsukishima Kei, he always goes for the worst. Thankfully he has good friends like Akaashi, an even sweeter and trophy boyfriend that is Kuroo Tetsurou. The news has been very positive and full of encouragement. Their colleagues have always been supportive before they went public, but now they could include them both in the pictures and story while referring to them as lovebirds. And boy they do appear in their pictures a lot.

Fans and commenters who wished to see how Kuroo puts a smile on Tsukishima gets to see them more often lately. Now that the weight of his fear has been lifted off, Tsukishima finds himself smiling a lot especially when Kuroo is by his side. The happiness involuntarily radiates to his face and it shows, dubbed as ‘the new face of Tsukishima Kei’ and people love that smile.

Their career grows positively, the market increases. It’s nothing too exaggerating but even people know that a happy face sells and a lot of happiness extends and reaches others.

Kuroo was right.

They’re in this together. And together, they are strong.

**Author's Note:**

> (ゝω･)ﾉ


End file.
